Impact reporting: Spread a warm glow by communicating your brand’s benefits

Doing good feels good. Being a purpose-led brand, we’re constantly searching for ways to harness this feeling, in order to capture that all-important customer loyalty.

Myriad studies show that sustainability is one of those feelgood factors that is sought after in a brand. And that’s good news, as there’s now an incentive for all businesses to do their bit.

So, as well as signalling sustainability credentials on our packaging, we want to ensure that anyone who has purchased us knows the impact their sustainable switch has made, and feels continually happy about it. So, how can we pass on that feelgood ‘warm glow’ to consumers?

One way we help customers feel proud about their purchase is through impact reporting. At Rubies, we’ve developed a calculator that shows exactly how much fruit & veg a person or restaurant has saved from waste by choosing us, and accordingly, the water and carbon embedded in this food that they’ve also prevented from going to waste. Being able to tell a customer confidently that by switching to Rubies for a year they’ll save 4,500 litres of water and 3kg of CO2e holds a bit more weight than just words.

And, to help translate the data in a more meaningful way, we’ve equated a customer’s savings into more examples which are easier to comprehend – ie how many double-decker buses could have been filled with this fruit/veg, or number of people that could have been sent to space in Elon Musk’s rocket, or the water saved as the number of minutes in the shower.

These stats are particularly helpful for our OOH customers who’ll want to shout about their environmental credentials to their own audience. It’s customisable by product so we can create bespoke reports per customer – and, to get that warm glow going strong, send our congratulations when customers hit major environmental milestones.

While it took a little frontloading of work in the form of tool development from our sustainability manager, it has and will continue to be invaluable when it comes to reinforcing consumer choice. Whether your brand’s mission is carbon-negating, health-enhancing, time-saving, cost-cutting, or an ethical alternative – I’d recommend it to any brand wanting to tangibly communicate its benefit.